1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly relates to an air conditioner provided in the ceiling of an air conditioned room.
2. Related Art
A conventional air conditioner provided in the ceiling of an air conditioned room principally comprises: a casing having a casing lower part formed by an alternating sequence of four side parts and four corner parts; outlets disposed so that each runs along a side part and an inlet disposed so that it is surrounded by all the side parts; a fan and a heat exchanger disposed inside the casing; and horizontal flaps each oscillatably provided around the axis of each outlet in the longitudinal direction and capable of varying the wind direction of the air current blown out from each outlet. A motor, link mechanisms, and the like, for oscillating these horizontal flaps, are disposed at the corner parts of a face panel that constitutes the casing lower part in, for example, a ceiling embedded type air conditioner (e.g., refer to Japanese Publication No. H7-92268). With such an air conditioner, driving the fan sucks the air inside the air conditioned room through the inlets into the casing, and the air sucked into the casing is heated or cooled by the heat exchanger and then blown out in four directions through the outlets.
Incidentally, to regulate the temperature inside the air conditioned room at a prescribed temperature, it is preferable to increase the flow volume of the air blown out from the air conditioner as much as possible. However, if the flow volume of the air blown out from each of the outlets is increased, then the flow speed of the air blown out from each of the outlets increases, which unfortunately generates a draft, making it impossible to achieve a satisfactory air current distribution inside the air conditioned room.
Therefore, an air conditioner has been proposed that provides an arcuate outlet that surrounds the inlet, and blows out air radially through this outlet (e.g., refer to Japanese Publication No. 2001-201165). With this air conditioner, forming the outlet arcuately enables the enlargement of the opening area of the outlet, consequently enabling the flow volume of the air blown out from the outlet to be increased while suppressing an increase in the flow speed of the air blown out from the outlet.
However, with this air conditioner, because the shape of the outlet is arcuate, the horizontal flap must be made so that it can be slid vertically when the horizontal flap is oscillated, and a slide mechanism is consequently further provided in order to slide this horizontal flap. This slide mechanism principally comprises: an oscillating link integrally formed with the horizontal flap; a lever whose one end is coupled by a pin to the oscillating link and whose other end is linked to the rotary shaft of the motor; a spring that connects the lever and the casing; a slide shaft integrally formed with the horizontal flap; and a guiding groove that guides the slide shaft vertically. Further, the slide shaft is guided vertically along the guiding groove and the horizontal flap is slid vertically by the drive of the motor and the elasticity of the spring, thus enabling the wind direction of the air current blown out from the outlet to be varied.
Thus, with such an air conditioner, the blowing of the air out from the arcuate outlet increases the flow volume of the air and enables the satisfactory air current distribution inside the air conditioned room; however, it requires the provision of the slide mechanism, which consequently complicates the constitution in order to vary the wind direction of the air current blown out from the outlet, and increases the cost.